Rob Scuderi
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- Sep 3, 2009
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Zach Parise, LW
1x 2nd All-Star Team (2009)
5th in Hart Trophy voting (2009)
Selke Trophy Voting: 8 (2009), 12 (2010), 18 (2013)
Point finishes: 5 (2009), 15 (2010)
Goal finishes: 3 (2009), 9 (2010)
6th in points, and 1st in goals during 2012 playoffs
1x Olympic All-Star Team (2010)
Finished 3rd in scoring in 2010 Olympics
Captain of 2014 Team USA
Captain of Devils 2011-12 season
![1393097082000-zach-parise-003.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gannett-cdn.com%2F-mm-%2F1b7c24435cdd89086386c6d1fc92c64548326083%2Fc%3D154-0-2045-1425%26r%3Dx404%26c%3D534x401%2Flocal%2F-%2Fmedia%2FUSATODAY%2FUSATODAY%2F2014%2F02%2F22%2F%2F1393097082000-zach-parise-003.jpg&hash=10ba34fc7184446106e507b822ae188a)
1x 2nd All-Star Team (2009)
5th in Hart Trophy voting (2009)
Selke Trophy Voting: 8 (2009), 12 (2010), 18 (2013)
Point finishes: 5 (2009), 15 (2010)
Goal finishes: 3 (2009), 9 (2010)
6th in points, and 1st in goals during 2012 playoffs
1x Olympic All-Star Team (2010)
Finished 3rd in scoring in 2010 Olympics
Captain of 2014 Team USA
Captain of Devils 2011-12 season
Forecaster said:Assets: Never stops hustling and possesses the drive, heart and skills of a winner. Has speed to burn defenders one-on-one and owns a true goal-scorer's shot that he loves to unleash at a moment's notice. Is a supremely intelligent player. Scores goals in the clutch and is defensively responsible.
Flaws: Not big, he needs to continue to withstand the constant pounding that comes with being a scoring star at the highest level. Could use a tad more work on his playmaking skills. Knee problems are a concern moving forward, as are injuries in general. May not be able to meet contratual expectations.
Career Potential: Elite scorer with a great work ethic.
Sports Illustrated 12/29/2008 said:Devils coach Brent Sutter says two players stand out as the hardest working he has coached: Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby , whom Sutter had at the 2005 World Junior Championships, and New Jersey left wing Zach Parise . With a team-high 18 goals through Sunday, Parise (right) has become one of the league's top young players...
Sports Illustrated 2/22/2010 said:Parise does a PSA for the state library system.
This hardly seems fair. Crosby has the Stanley Cup, and Ovechkin has the Hart Trophy, while Parise—"the best American forward, for sure," Olympic coach Ron Wilson says—has the Dewey decimal system.
Even the rare Devil with name recognition, goalie Martin Brodeur, the NHL career leader in wins, shutouts and games, suggests Parise needs a grander canvas for his art to be truly appreciated. "I went through that my whole career—[people saying] is it him or is he a product of the system?—until I played for Team Canada and got out of it," said Brodeur, starter for the Olympic gold-medal-winners in 2002. "It's all about how you perform when you go outside this bubble we have here and into the real world. For Zach, the Olympics could be his coming-out. No doubt it will be."
Enter Parise, a hero in the making. "Since the first practice we had this year," Devils coach Jacques Lemaire says, "I can't expect a player to be better than this." Twenty-one of Parise's 28 goals have come at even strength, tied for seventh in the NHL. He is so responsible without the puck that between Nov. 4 and Dec. 2 he was not on the ice for an opposing goal, a remarkable streak for a player who averages nearly 20 minutes. (He's +24 for the season.) Although American fans instinctively gravitate to the goaltender—presumptive starter Ryan Miller has been the NHL's best in the first half of the season—Team USA belongs to Parise. If this quick, small but determined group claws its way to a medal, the fulcrum will be the first-line left wing with a face on loan from a Giotto cherub.
In an interview with the Detroit Free Press in November, Steve Yzerman, Hall of Fame Red Wings captain and general manager of Canada's Olympic team, was asked who would he want to be if he could come back as a current player. Yzerman chose Parise. "I really got a good look at him at the worlds in Moscow [in 2007]," Yzerman said in December, before scouting a Lightning-Devils game. "Love the way he plays. Just a great, nifty player. And he works his butt off."
As Lemaire, a contemporary of J.P.'s, says, Zach works like his father but has twice the talent.
"There's so much to like about his game, especially that he's not afraid to play in traffic," Lawton says of Parise, who has scored 14 of his 28 goals from inside 15 feet. "But as a hockey player I think character is his strongest asset. As we've seen recently in today's world of tumultuous events"—Lawton was referencing Tiger Woods, not Afghanistan—"that's a really valuable asset."
"He's all about hockey," Brodeur says. "His commitment to the game is second to none. He started going in early to work on his shot. Then one guy, then another, joined him. He started with the stim machine, and now he's got a bunch of guys in the room doing it. That's leadership. He was a shy kid, but I think he has realized how good he is, which really helps him. It's been my team for so many years here, but now I believe it's his team. I may still be the face, but he's the future."
Sports Illustrated 6/11/2012 said:Brown and Parise, potential Conn Smythe candidates behind Quick (and perhaps high-wire L.A. defenseman Drew Doughty—from London, Ont.—who skated end to end, and through three Devils, in Game 2 to score a goal of utter brilliance), are among the modern exemplars. They possess fourth-line work ethics and, especially in Parise's case, first-line skills. "All you have to do is watch Zach for 30 seconds. You know he expects nothing for free," says New Jersey defenseman Andy Greene (Trenton, Mich.). "Brown looks the same way to me. They don't have the why-did-you-hit-me look when they get hit." Brown and Parise each had seven goals through Game 2, tied for his team's lead.
"Parise just does it right," [Dean] Lombardi says. "You never see him put himself above his team. The competitiveness is off the charts, especially for a smaller guy around the crease. Like [Brown], the game is high level, but it's not one that rings Me-Me-Me. Their games are loud, but they're not loud, you know?"
StarTribune 1/31/2014 said:Bylsma coaches the Pittsburgh Penguins, so his team faced off against Parise often when he played for the Devils. Bylsma said Parise embodies the blue-collar attitude he wants from his team in Sochi.
“Every time we played against Zach Parise, there has been a work ethic, a never quit, a determination, an abrasiveness about a hard-to-play-against type of player -- and it’s every time,†he said. “Regardless of the score, regardless of the situation our respective teams might be in, that’s what you see and that’s what you get every time I’ve coached against Zach Parise."